Daily Republican., 1887-10-19
Calling OF = Constitutional Convsntion.
For the DAILY REPuBLIcAn.


For the DAILY REPUsLIcAn.
I sm very sorry to zee that NEE tings
Gro being convened 'favoring the calling
OF . convent IN TO frame o nav oonsti
tuition for the State of Delaware with
the titles Of Democratic mass meeting
or Republican mrss meeting In favor Of
calling q constitutional convention.
This, In my opinion, is . grave mistake.
Already hear men say: 1t 10 Demo
cratic move or It 10 Republican dodge
In the interest of certain Democrats or
csrtsin Republicans, &, the case may
be, and will have no part or lot ~
the matter. Now such talk as this is
doing the cause much harm. Every
man who stays away from the polls and
refuses to v0te counts vote against
calling convention. To insure con-
venttou l6. 800 vot must be polled on
the FIRST day Of November next. This
cannot be done by Ell her the Democrats
or Republicans alone II . convention
u to be called by the voters OF this
State by the ballots Of our citixeps
on November LIST, 1887, it must DO done
By the united vo'es Of Democrats and
Republicans, and this call for political
party meetings In favor Of . convention
should cease NJ once. The citizens oil
DelAware do not want . Democratic
constitution or Repub blicsn constitu.
tion In y party sense ~ the words
Democrat and Republican are generally
used
We want convention called by the
people OF Delaware, regardless OF pres
ent or past political affiliations. We
want the people of each ward and hun.
dred 10 this State to convene In mass
meesings In their respective localities
and organize In favor Of . constitu-
tional convention as oitizsns OF Della
ware, and not % Democratic or Republi
can organizations. Democrats and Re
publicaus who are in favor OF the adop.
ton OF new constitution for this State
should At once rally as citizens, not Ai
party politicians, and put shoulder tG
shoulder, hand to hand, and work with
will together. with long pull, and q
steady pull and 3 pull together, from
now until the balloting ceases on
November LIST, for . convention of the
people Of Delaware, in favor of the
adoption OF new constitution for this
State. II We do 30, we will accomplish
the object we have in view. Other.
wise,it will end 10 ap iRnominious defeat
Of the friends OF constitutional reform
In Delaware. Then, my fellow citizens,
lot us drop all parry names at once in
our calls Ior meetings In favor Of con.
vention. Let our posters be headed
"mass meeting Of the citiz sns OF Della
ware In favor OF . new COM titution for
the State of Delaware" To this call the
masses will rally, and victory will
perch upon the banners Of the advocates
OF o G. netltutionsl convention. ON the
hrst day Of November next. There Ia
too much at etnke in this issue to run IL
under the separate titles o: Dsmoctats
or Republicans.
We don't want ('n party sense) q
Democratic constitutional convention,
or Republican constitutional oonven-
tioD, but convention Of sovereign peo.
Pile OK Delaware. We want q conven-
tion called for the people, of the people
and by the people OF Delaware. Our
present Oon.titution Of 1882 was framed
and adopted when was little boy of
| some years OF age, and previous to the
birth Of the great masses Of our citizen q
| now resicing In this state; IL has ont
lived Its day OF usefulness; 3 man who
was old enough to vote when the pres.
ent constitution ives adopted Is now
| over 70 years OF age. The present Con.
stitution Of the State of Delaware was
opted In the same year In which the
CITY OF Wilmington was inoorpoi Ated as
o city, which was done Mt Dover Janu
sry IS, 1882 At this time the popula
tlon OF Wilmington was about $3.50
souls, and at that time there was but n
very small differences bet twcan the mum
ber of citizens re esidiDg iu the three re-
spective counties of New CASTLE, Kep B
AID Sussex; to-day the city of Will.
mipatoa contains over GO, 600 people,
having population In itself almost one
and one half times as great as the popu.
1asion OF either Kent or Sussex counties.
When the three counties were given
equal representation in the General As
sembly By the convention OF 1882 there
could be but little to complain of in re.
gard 20 unjust representation in the
General Assembly by the citizens of
New Castle County; but what Ia the re.
suit TO day? New Castle County, with
o population greater than both of the
other counties. has ten mem bers of both
branches OF the General Assem- bly,, and
Kent aud SUSSEX each have the eame
number. Is this honesi? Is it fair or
juat 10 the citizens OF New Castle
Osuaty?
Ianswer emphatical' y 1t Ia not hon
es', IL Is not fair; hut IL ia dishonest aud
UNJUST that one man in the rural dis.
tIicts OF the two lower counties shall
have the political rights of ten citizens
residing IN the city OF Wilmington TO-
day, and that 10 just what tue constitu.
tion of Delaware to day does do. We
want a constitution made by the peo-
pie and for the people. giving equal po
litical rights to each of our citizens of
this STATE, by districts, regardless of
county lines. We want to abolieh the
one man power, and instead of having
our county offices filed by the political
friends OF the Governor we want them
elected by the people themselves Wei
want each district to elect Its own rep
resentativs or senator In the General
Assembly, and Its own member OF the
Levy court II this old, Antiquated body
should be resaiped by the new constitu
tion, which think should be entirely
done away with and three county com |
elected by the people take
les place.) We want q radical change |
10 the judiciary system OF our State
The old frgy idea Of three judges sitting
In orr Superior oourt, Cor in Court OF
Dom mon Pleas as we should have,) is
live, and has been long since discarded
by most of our sister States.
We want the resident judge In each
,ounty to hold the Common Pleas Court
IN the county he resides, and be should
be elected by the people for term Of 10
,r 10 years The idea that the sovereign
people are not rs competent to elect q
udge of our courts as the Governor OF
The State 10 to sele,t for them, is simply
1repoEterous. There are many other
needed reforms that would bs pleased
70 suggest, but want Of spacs in o
iewsp sper article at any one time pre-
rents 1t. CAn this be- accomplished b =
he votes Of our citiz ms on the first cay